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The Kingdom of God | Mark 1:15

There have been a few misconceptions about the kingdom of
God over the years. One key one is that it
is the church. As the Roman Catholic
Church wielded power over the known world, it was easy to see it as the kingdom
come to earth. Some Protestants still retain
the tradition of viewing the church as some iteration of the kingdom of
God. However, Jesus said that it is near,
not that it had arrived, so this isn’t quite right.

There are both spiritual and physical aspects to the kingdom
of God. The primary spiritual concern
for the kingdom of God is this: How will
you deal with Jesus Christ? When
Jesus told them that the kingdom was near, He meant the King was near to them
(cf. Lk 17:21; Mt 12:28). But, it wasn’t
just being physically near Him; it is about His commands here—repent and believe in the gospel. If you are a Christian, then you are not only
a citizen, but a son of the kingdom (Mt 13:38).
Being born again by grace through faith in Christ is how one gains
entrance into the kingdom (Jn 3:3). Are you a citizen of this kingdom?

Know that there is coming a physical aspect to the kingdom as
well. Old Testament Israel formed the
starting basis for the kingdom of God (Ex 19:6), and several passages in the
Minor Prophets predict the coming kingdom (Jl 3; Am 9:11-15; Zep 3:14-20; 8;
12:8-10; 14). Revelation 21 records the New
Heavens and New Earth with the New Jerusalem of the kingdom of God, and chapter
22 contains precious promises about that kingdom.

There’s quite a bit to talk about with this, but consider
this. Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit
and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the
one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without
price.” Find the satisfaction that you
need in your King. Come to Him,
repenting and believing the good news that He accepts sinners into His
kingdom.

Popular posts from this blog

(Part 1 | Part 2)
The first two posts of this series form an important foundation: we
must rely on the truth the Holy Spirit revealed to us through His Word,
lest we grow arrogant and embrace bold deception in the name of God. If
we lean on our own understanding of how God operates, we will fall. If
we grow unsatisfied with the Bible and seek words and visions, we
invite spiritual destruction.

Indeed, the light of Proverbs 30:6 dispels our confusion: Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
In total, we said we must avoid Bethel because it is spiritually dangerous, and we said there are two reasons for that.
The first reason we examined in length last week, that it promotes false doctrine, and we looked at the heretical teachings streaming from
the pulpit to computers and MP3 players near you. If you have not read at least that post, please do so now, because we now turn to the
second of these reasons.

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